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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28460358">Overgrowth [Discontinued, Old]</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hollow Knight (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Old Concept, Old Work, Unfinished</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:46:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,825</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28460358</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a very, very old story that I wrote back in my Amino days. It's in an AU in which I added an entirely different map somewhere above Hallownest. Now that I think about it, it makes... not much sense. Don't expect anything too great here, I was very new to the fandom when I wrote this and I probably hadn't thought about enough pre-existing lore when designing it, either.</p><p>In essence, the whole thing can be boiled down to the Pale Sibs unintentionally find their way to a land way above their own at the surface. This land is full of lush life, gargantuan trees, vast bodies of water, et cetera. From there, decisions and character growth ensue.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel &amp; Hornet &amp; The Knight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>As continued from the summary, that whole development thing was the plan; it was built to be long-term and I would have to build the world from there as I went. Then this story got completely scratched before the first chapter completed, so... Here's the original prologue. It's very short, but there is also an uncompleted first chapter that I'll go ahead and post (if I can figure out how...) as-is. </p><p>I may revisit this alternate world of mine at a later date, but I just wish to show you my younger self's brief infatuation. Thank you to Jeff for encouraging me to go ahead and show this ridiculously outdated work. There have been very minor changes, but that was just fixing up some pronoun errors, so this is a somewhat shined statue of what this story was.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hornet wasn't sure what had happened. She was in the chamber of the infected sibling, the Hollow Knight; she had driven her nail through their skull while one of her only living siblings, Ghost, struck them with their longnail sword. The Hollow Knight had roared, an animalistic, enraged sound escaping from the void being's raspy throat. Hornet was thrown back into the cave wall, gasping as she fell to the floor, breath escaped from her lungs and needle flung to somewhere else in the cavern.</p><p>Now the chamber was silent and brooding, for Ghost had seemingly finished off Hollow - and himself. Hornet pulled herself to her shaky feet and scuttled over to her siblings' motionless bodies, her silt-stained red cloak dragging behind her.</p><p>Ghost was already small, but when laying on the cold, slippery stone, they appeared to be even smaller. Their white mask-head, adorned with two long, inward-pointing horns, was resting against one of the long, heavy chains that had been restraining Hollow before their battle. Hornet couldn't see any injuries on their black body, partly due to their dim violet shawl. His longnail - a sword-like weapon without a hilt - appeared to be a little scuffed and scratched, but very much intact. Hornet, dismissing the tiny void character as fine, approached the Hollow Knight. </p><p>The poor one's mask-head, white with two large, thick horns protruding from it, was cracked around their right eye. A shawl was about the black being's shoulders, torn and distressed by age and battle. The eyes, like those of Hornet and Ghost, were colored like onyx and completely lifeless, showing no signs of the infection that had plagued them before. Hornet leaned over their dropped longnail and picked up the lengthy sword. It was heavier than her needle; high quality material made it up and must've been quite shiny when it endured the proper care back when the Knight was up and moving. Thin, dark void-blood and the Radience's signature sign of infection - orange, pus-like, runny blobs - were coating the sword, and Hornet angled the nail down to avoid getting the two contrasting liquids on her skin. </p><p>'Should I discard this? It's so well-made, perhaps I should just get it cleaned and repaired… But what if there is residue?' Hornet wondered silently as she spun the blade slowly as to not fling the unwanted liquid coating. She glared at the messy blade before tossing it sharply into the stone wall a ways away. The longnail clattered against the stone as the orange blobs stuck the upper part of the nail to the wall, slowly leaking the odd, runny pus down the wall along with the void-blood.</p><p>At the rattling of the blade came Ghost's awakening; they slowly got to their little black feet and picked up their longnail. It was in a state similar to Hollow's blade, but the runny substances that coated the latter were sliding off the smooth, well-kept surface of the weapon. Hornet turned as they approached. "What is it, little Ghost?" </p><p>Ghost made a face and waved their arms tiredly before slicing their blade across an unsuspecting plant; they had won, it seemed, but not without damage to their body and wardrobe. Their mask was smeared with dirt and blood and there were a few shiny spots on their form that appeared to be nail wounds. Their cloak had rips in many a place and had absorbed so much blood and grime that it was an off-shade of its original hue. Hornet cast a disapproving glance at his untidy attire and was reminded that the usual presence of her needle in her grasp was absent. As the thin spider-lady went to retrieve her lost needle, Ghost bounced around the cavern to slice horizontally across all of the plants that they hadn't destroyed prior to or during their battle with the Hollow Knight. Ghost drew back their blade in a flourish as they approached one of the last undamaged flowers in the chamber.</p><p>They sprang into the air and, with a flourish of their gleaming longnail, landed harshly on the stone. As their nail sliced horizontally across the flower's stem, a small shockwave rippled from the void being's feet. Ghost silently boasted as the ground rumbled quietly underneath their feet.</p><p>The cavern's floor gave way underneath Ghost and Hornet, who was returning to talk to them, and the two tripped on cracking rock as dust flew up from the caving floor. Unusual scents wafted around the hole; it was an odd mixture of potent grass and old air. The Hollow Knight's unconscious body slowly slid down into the dark, mossy pit that just opened up as it swallowed them and their two siblings.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Part 1 | The Overearth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The siblings find themselves in a strange world.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The second part of my discontinued passion. Again, not great, but for what it's worth, I'm glad that I tried to write it.<br/>I don't think that I like the personalities that I assigned to Hornet and Ghost anymore, but I suppose I have been exposed to more interpretations and character interactions by now.</p><p>I think that some of my edits didn't save, so if you find any 'he' pronouns, please let me know so I can fix them.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The trip down into the newly opened passage was painful. Freshly closed wounds snapped open as their sore, injured bodies smashed into the sharp rocks and itchy, spiky moss. It was near impossible to see where they were or how far they still had to go. To Hornet, it felt like the first time she had attempted to ride a Garpede, except longer and somehow worse. She, feeling nauseated and dizzy yet still armed with her needle, attempted to stab the wall to stop her seemingly endless fall. The needle blade didn't even pierce the tough rock; it was forced to adjust position in Hornet's grasp, and the spider completely lost control of her needle with a strained growl as it fell out of reach, "Beast's Den!"</p><p>The poor Hollow Knight, who was already beaten, tired, and sore, kept scraping themself on the walls and thorny vines much more often than their siblings as their large body was inevitably running up against the edges. They woke up for short seconds, then passed out, exhausted and in pain.</p><p>Ghost, unlike their flailing siblings, was used to ridiculous falls after breaking walls, but this wasn't the usual type of tunnel. Wild with lethal vegetation, crazily shaped, and odd in how the siblings were often forced up instead of down as if they were on an insane curvy slide. It was also stupidly long, they thought, 'Who makes a tunnel this ridiculous? I don't think even Father would attempt this.'</p><p>Ghost heard a loud splash, then another, and then they felt a liquid splash around them and suck them down into the dark, murky depths. They swam up and surfaced when Hornet did.</p><p>They saw sunlight, streaming through the large, open rock face that they found themselves within. Vines were draped over the open entrance and creeped around the rocky walls as they waved gently as a soft, playful wind passed through them. "Oh wow," Hornet mumbled, "It's so hot up here."</p><p>Ghost suddenly yanked Hornet's arm and pointed downward. Their eyes were both big yet narrowed, as if they suddenly realized something very important. </p><p>Hornet blinked and thought rapidly, 'What is it? Ghost and I fell… Did Hollow fall, too?' She then voiced her question. Ghost answered with a bunch of nods and dove back underneath the surface. Hornet took a deep breath and dove after her siblings.</p><p>The Hollow Knight, awoken by the force of the water, weakly waved their limbs around as they tried to surface. Vision in their right eye was blurry and disorienting and the tall void being's tattered cloak was not helping in the slightest as it slowed his already pitiful ascent. He jerked his hand away as a blurry white figure grabbed it, confusing the Knight further; When they were grabbed again and dragged to the surface, they didn't resist. Hornet and Ghost dragged their exhausted sibling up onto the shore; Hollow warily looked up at them with a silent, tired gaze. Ghost turned to give her an encouraging thumbs-up.</p><p>She sighed and glanced at the tunnel opening which they had fallen through. "I doubt that we'll all be able to get back up."</p><p>The masked, mischievous vessel gave an invisible, self-satisfied smile with a shrug. </p><p>Hornet frowned, "What?" </p><p>Ghost picked up a few small rocks and set them on the ground before tapping them with their nail. Hornet rolled her eyes, "Yes, I know you murdered everyone up there already."</p><p>Ghost tossed their arms to the side in a sweeping, questioning gesture. "The point? Well-"</p><p>Their heads snapped up at the sound of a sudden sickly screech. Unbeknownst to them, the cry was from a large, native bird, flying high in the sky and out of their reach and lines of sight. Ghost, intrigued and curious at the possible prospect of a boss, ran out of the cave, nail at his back. "Hey, don't leave me to carry them!" Hornet objected. She glared at the tiny warrior as they simply spun and shrugged - Hornet swore they were grinning at her despite their lack of mouth - before running further. Hornet, grumbling, squeezed the water out of her cloak, retrieved her needle, and managed to support the giant, unconscious soldier and carry them after Ghost.</p><p>Ghost was having a blast in this new area; they didn't recognize much here and nearly everything was at least double its normal size, so there were bound to be boss-type creatures to fight and defeat. Gargantuan trees stretched far into the mass of purply blue and cotton bunches of white beyond. On top of that, there was so much light; Hornet despised this and used the Hollow Knight's limp body to block the rays from her view, but Ghost simply ran ahead regardless of the amount of light. </p><p>A challenging roar echoed throughout the trees, and Ghost sped up, eager to fight. They leapt off of a slanted, mossy rock into a sizable green clearing, surrounded by more large trees, fungi, and vines. The experienced warrior crashed into the ground with their fist to the grass; the impact flattened the nearby blades of green as Ghost stood up straight and brandished their blade. <br/>Crashing through the bracken, a humongous mossy monster toppled a large, glowing mushroom upon entry into the clearing. The beast itself was coated in rows upon rows of leaves, bracken, moss, and even appeared to have small trees growing upon its back. The bulk of its body was made up of hard, cracking grey skin that had more in common with stone, including long, jagged claws that jutted out from each of its four limbs. An enraged, screeching roar erupted from its large, glistening maw, showcasing all of the teeth within. The teeth looked as if they could chew through even the hardest, densest tree bark, and the size of the jaw made it appear like it could wrap its mouth around a boulder. The eyes were dark and hidden among the growths upon its facial area, and they held a burning, passionate amount of rage within their dark, murky depths.</p><p>[And... then I never finished. I may go back and add the rest of the scene at a later date, though if I do that, I'll probably rewrite the entire thing.]</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I might rewrite some of this, though I have no plans for this at the moment.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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